Higitsune
by Lycodrake
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, the 101st member of Hakuei Ren's Household, follows his King into the conflict, even as the shadowy influence of Black Rukh grows across the globe. Alliances and friendships are tested and enemies made while trying to understand the King conflict and the battle against Al-Thamen.


The Surrender to Saved

xxxxxxx

Kurama stared at his jailer; his jailer stared back and the giant fox had no trouble sifting through all the negative emotions the boy was projecting. "Hello, my jailer, to what do I owe the pleasure? No doubt it's because the Toad threw you into a chasm, of course, trying to send you to my humble abode and have me give you my chakra."

The brash blonde grimaced, his brashness overcoming his terror, "Like I want your stupid chakra, you dumb fox! Ero-sennin just shoved me back and I fell – ending up in this dumb sewer! I don't even want your chakra – I'd be more than happy to never use it…" The fox was only amused by this, irritating Naruto more. "But I don't want to die, damn it! So pay up rent and help me! For all the pain I've gone through to get here today because of you."

"Oh really, I was the one to glare at you, ostracize you, call you a demon child – a monster!? I was the one that caused all your emotional pain!?" Kurama guffawed, rearing back on his hind legs in amusement for but a second, before returning to crouching. "That's the funniest thing I've heard, brat."

Naruto was foolish, but he was an honest fool. "You're the reason I was hated! You're the one they really hate, but I'm the scapegoat – and I hated them back! But…I learned what it's like to have precious people, and I'm going to prove them wrong, fox!"

"Oh, certainly, I was the reason, but do you want to know something, brat? There are eight others like you and I in the world, the bloody Sand brat being one of them. You think you'll be acknowledged? Ask about the containers from other countries! My brothers and sisters are tools for war to you damned ninja! You label us by our tails and don't even bother asking our names! And you – you're just like your mother!"

"What d-did you say?" He couldn't believe it.

"That's right kid, your mother was my container before you, and you want to know the reason she died? It was because of you and I! The way she treated me is no different than you – assuming me evil and treating me like chakra on tap! I was happy when she died, because she treated me like a monster. Female containers' seals are weakest during childbirth, so guess what we have in common: we're both the reason why Uzumaki Kushina died!"

"That can't be true, you have to be lying-" Shaky denial permeated Naruto's question.

"Oh yes, I'm a lying demon, right? I'm a monster that only wants to slaughter and destroy." The fox grinned, "Isn't that what they whispered about you? Isn't that what they all think in the darkest corners of their minds? I know it is. Your friends don't know and that's the only reason they don't hate you. So go on, treat me like they treated you! The irony is beautiful in its hideousness!"

"You killed them! Don't play innocent with me, you damned fox! You didn't even have a reason, being powerful like you are-!"

"Uzumaki Naruto, do you even know what my brothers and sisters' purpose is? Our father, your beloved Sage of Six Paths, intended us to be peacemakers. Not weapons. Not monsters. Not demons. Don't think yourself above me, child, just because you have so little blood on your hands. You humans are all alike – only father was different, and that's because he was only half human to begin with."

"Don't speak like you understand me, damn it, when you're saying weird things! Don't act like you know w-what I'm going through! Don't bring up my mother and say those things about her!"

"The most powerful weapon in this world is truth. Can you call me out on a lie? No, because you are ignorant. Do you know why I haven't attempted to take control?"

"No." Naruto honestly had no clue.

"Because I had hoped you would be different than your mother. Different from Uzumaki Mito who was cold and heartless towards me, seeing me as little more than a pet to Uchiha Madara – a pet she could leash and parade around for herself and her husband! Just like you don't want to be a tool – I WILL NOT BE A PET!"

Naruto had had it. "Shut up if you don't want to help me, you stupid fox! Let me die, then! I don't care about myself – I used to, but now all that matters to me is that my precious people don't die early!"

"You spout the nonsense, but you have a desire – Hokage because of acknowledgment, and the same reason for friends! In the end, those are selfish desires!"

"So what!? No one ever asked me if I wanted to be your jailer! No one asked me if I wanted to be hated – glared at and called horrible names!"

"And you think I asked to be turned into a creature of war?"

"No, but you certainly seem to be enjoying tearing me down, fox! Don't act like you care and yell at me!"

"It's because I care that I yell, Uzumaki brat; do you think I like it any more than you do!? The Sand brat has his sand from my brother, but do you know what you and I have!? I feel every negative emotion near you! Whatever you felt, I felt – maximized by the gift my father gave me – the gift that you humans turned into a curse!"

xxxxxxx

Silence reigned between the two and their clash of wills, until the sewer walls disappeared.

"You were always the emotional one, brother." A giant cat made of purple and black flames – the Nibi – and a blonde-haired woman appeared. No doubt the feline had spoken. "You hate humans because they betrayed father, but you are blind to those that inherited his will."

"Hello, sister." The giant fox was chained into the misty terrain and Naruto couldn't move – chains wrapped around his limbs, too. "Come to mock me for not being a pampered pet like you?"

"No, I came here because I sensed you ranting. Father hated it when you ranted, brother, and none of use liked it either. Your jailor is but a boy with a burden he never asked for and a desire for love – something father would never hate; you say you don't want to be a monster, but you treat him cruelly."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to a giant cat defending him. It was weird.

"I treat him cruelly because that's all he and his have done to me! You sit there with your beloved jailer acting like friends, but you and 'Hachibi' only gain that luxury because you are tools to them! I will never be a tool again – if I have to kill this child and be sent to the Shinigami, so be it! She at least will not judge."

The Cloud ninja finally spoke up, "Fine. Kill him, Kyuubi – gain your revenge on a foolish child that doesn't know the full story. Nibi thought higher of you."

"You will hold your tongue concerning my family, human – your precious Hidden Cloud is the worst."

"My name is Nii Yugito, Kyuubi, and Matatabi and I are allies for the big picture - just like Killer B and Gyuuki."

"YOU DARE SPEAK OUR NAMES!? And my siblings willingly gave them…traitors to father just like the rest."

"You are a fool, brother. You think you are the only one who feels betrayed? How do you think we feel when you have willingly blinded yourself to father's dream – his dying wish for all of us, Tailed Beast and Ninshuu-user alike?"

"Do not speak to me of Ninshuu, sister – it is dead but for us. Father and his younger child by birth were the last, thanks for that accursed Indra. He and his like are all that is left in this world! The Senju have died out from that path and this brat before me and his predecessors are prime examples that the Uzumaki didn't have it!"

"So you chose to make us enemies, brother, out of your hatred for this world?"

"If that is what is needed to right the wrongs against father, then I will."

"Brother, that is exactly what Uchiha Madara wants."

"DO NOT SPEAK THAT NAME! HE IS INDRA REBORN UPON THIS ACCURSED WORLD! HE SHALL SUFFER!"

"Your anger grows brother, but where is the loving, caring son that father was proud of?"

"He is bathed in the curse of hatred, sister, that is what I have become. You think you are different and you could be right, but the blessing has become a curse and blends with the hatred." He stared at the boy in front of him, "This child is no better. He has hatred. Uzumaki Mito was right and wrong – vessels need to be full of love, but he is not. He is half empty of love and half full of hatred."

Naruto turned his downcast eyes upon the misty ground.

"Leave us, Matatabi. I know your thoughts. You see me turning into nothing more than a fragment of the Ten Tails. You aimed to help me, but your mind betrays your goal. I am beyond redemption and will die today along with this brat."

Matatabi gasped, "You plan to offer yourself to the Shinigami!? Brother!"

"It is for the best. Uzumaki Naruto and the Kyuubi no Youko – Kurama – will die together. I pray grandmother doesn't mind. It is better for all of us – the boy will even see his parents." Kurama let tears fall, only for his family and the dream of his father. "I wish it could have been different, Matatabi. I wish father was right about humans - and about us. But it seems I won't see that wish come true."

"Brother!"

"Goodbye Matatabi."

Naruto and Kurama faded. The jailer and prisoner died together within a chasm, Kurama surrendering himself to the Shinigami – the shade of Kaguya.

xxxxxxx

Naruto faded in and out of consciousness; the first thing he remembered after talking to the fox was landing on a grassy field before blacking out the first time.

"Lady Hakuei, it's a young boy! What's he doing out here?" Shadows that he could distinguish shaded him from the sun.

Darkness.

"He's not waking up. He's suffering a severe concussion! What do I do – what do I do!?" Panic filled Hakuei's voice. Naruto could feel himself on a horse, carried gently.

"Calm down Lady Hakuei, Toya is a skilled healer; she'll know what to do."

Darkness.

"We're losing him Lady Hakuei; if he doesn't get better soon and eat, I'm not sure what we can do! Keeping him hydrated can only do so much."

"Paimon, is there anything you can do? Please, I don't want an innocent boy to die if I can do something to prevent it!"

"He would need to be a member of your household for me to help him in this state, my King; did he have anything that could work?"

"He had a fuma shuriken on him, Lady Paimon! Surely that could work." The Kouga clan knew well the weapons of their home region, and the Kou Empire knew them even better. Seeing the boy with such weapons on his person could only mean he was a child soldier of some sort.

"Yes, that definitely should work, Toya. But…"

"But what, Paimon?"

"With his life on the line, I can't guarantee he won't 'assimilate' the powers I grant him, my King."

"If he hates either of us for it, so be it, no one should die so young."

"As you wish, my King, but I doubt he will hate either of us. His rukh is burning brightly with only flecks of shadow. What is your name, child?"

The third female's voice drew him into a comforting embrace and Naruto wondered if her tone was like a mother's. His raw voice whispered out, "U-uzumaki Naruto."

"Very well, Naruto, my name is Paimon, djinn of maniacal love and chaos and wind. My King welcomes you into her household…"

Darkness, but this time he could see three shadows, and felt his entire body relax from stress and tension previously unknown to him.

Hakuei and Toya watched as Paimon's blessing of power changed the boy similar to how Hakuei herself looked like in Djinn Equip – feathery, orange down covered his arms up to the elbow and around his ankles.

The fuma shuriken that had been transformed into the boy's Household Vessel drastically changed. White feathers formed along the blunt side of the blades and the center ring, giving the weapon the appearance of a wing.

"His life is safe now, my King, and the Household Vessel 'Higitsune' formed."

xxxxxxx

A.N.: Well, I was inspired by re-reading Naruto fanfics – and found INeedAHaircut in the process, who writes very well - to write this. For those curious few, I wrote the dialogue first before adding in better details and then proofreading.


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